Funding

EMR Program Funding Guidelines

The EMR Program is designed to assist physicians with the cost of implementing and maintaining an EMR. Funding is available to qualified physicians to automate their practices. The cost of this Program is funded by the Saskatchewan Medical Association (30 per cent) and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health (70 per cent). To apply for funding, the practice must implement an approved EMR and utilize it as per Program Guidelines.

To qualify to receive payments, physicians must maintain a qualifying EMR system and utilize it to provide a longitudinal patient record which integrates with the Province’s electronic health record through standard interfaces as they become available. Payments shall include the following:

1. $1.00 per patient encounter

Physicians are paid $1 every time an approved fee code is submitted for billing through their EMR. Documentation in the EMR is required to support this fee code and it must contain sufficient information to meet the profession’s generally accepted standard for medical records.

This funding is paid bi-weekly by Medical Services Branch (MSB).

2. $300.00 per month

To qualify for this payment in the first year, 50% of submitted fee codes (from the approved list) must have the visit encounter captured in the EMR. The electronic record indicator* must be activated to submit eligible claims.

After one year, 95% of submitted fee codes (from the approved list) must have the visit encounter captured in the EMR. The electronic record indicator* must be activated to submit eligible claims.

This funding is paid quarterly by MSB.

Physicians must submit EMR-eligible codes within the month the service was provided in order to be counted toward the monthly fee calculation.

*The Electronic record indicator is a specific field in the billing portion of the EMR. Contact your EMR vendor for details.

Other Funding Guidelines

To prepare for integration with EHR services, to meet best practices, and to help physicians realize the full benefits of their EMR, please consider the following requirements:

record patient appointments and patient demographics in the appropriate modules